NCJ Number
197289
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 26 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2002 Pages: 149-164
Date Published
2002
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Court-based prosecutors collaborating with their constituents to determine solutions to community problems is the basis of this article.
Abstract
This article discusses the interactions between court-based prosecutors and their constituents in order to solve community problems. After introducing the problem-solving law enforcement approach known as community prosecution as a long-term proactive partnership among prosecutor’s offices, law enforcement, and the community, the authors describe the decade-old community prosecution technique in theory and practice. In order to develop models to test and explain variations in prosecutorial practices, this paper presents the results of a random survey of 261 Georgia prosecutors in order to determine whether community based prosecutors spent more time in community outreach and law enforcement coordination activities. Applying multivariate statistical tests to the surveys and developing regression models demonstrated that prosecutors’ caseloads correlated with time spent on community outreach and law enforcement. Furthermore, surveyed prosecutors did not engage in increased law enforcement coordination relative to other attorneys. The authors concluded, that there were no consistent differences between traditional prosecutors and community-based prosecutors. Tables, references